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Old 12-08-2007, 09:08 AM
 
Location: Las Flores, Orange County, CA
26,338 posts, read 93,407,924 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia View Post
the sheer number of them needing heat and AC will increase CA's energy usage per capita.

At first I thought this was not correct. But then I realized, because the added users require more power since they are in the hottest and coldest places the per capita increases.
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Old 12-09-2007, 11:21 AM
 
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
1,482 posts, read 5,159,892 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cremebrulee View Post
yes, you may be right, but what are you saying? That perhaps a law should be passed that you can only build a home a certain size?
I'm saying what I said. Per capita energy usage will rise not only because the houses are being built in more extreme climates but also because those homes are also larger.
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Old 12-11-2007, 11:21 AM
 
609 posts, read 2,233,383 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 18Montclair View Post
Per Capita Gasoline Use?

CA ranks 46th out of 50 states in per capita gasoline usage-below the national average

U.S. Gasoline Per Capita Use by State (broken link)

Maybe the right statistic would be Gasoline Use per car. That would be more logical.

Also interesting would be Greenhouse emission per car

This shows the gasoline use by country. Interesting..........Gasoline Consumption by Country (broken link)

Last edited by tigerclaws; 12-11-2007 at 11:24 AM.. Reason: added more info.
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Old 12-11-2007, 12:17 PM
 
Location: Huntsville, AL
1,618 posts, read 4,763,444 times
Reputation: 1517
Quote:
CA ranks 46th out of 50 states in per capita gasoline usage-below the national average
So the popularity of fuel-efficient cars in the NoCal must balance out the ginormous number of SUVs in SoCal.

I also wonder what things really mean. A lot of the top states have little or no agriculture, and there are quite a few states in the lower ranks with a lot of agriculture. Of course, California has agriculture, but any per capita use affected by the use of agricultural equipment would be extremely diluted by the massive numbers of people who live in urban areas. I can't imagine that people in Oklahoma are really living that much more indulgently than people in California in terms of vehicle use. That's just an armchair theory there, but I don't think it makes sense to compare people operating agricultural equipment with populations that don't, when everyone needs food production.

I mean, Hawaii ranks GREAT on that list. Your average Hawaiian isn't personally using much fuel driving around an island. But think of all the fuel used importing all their goods across the ocean!
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Old 12-20-2008, 08:33 AM
 
3 posts, read 9,728 times
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Sorry to dig up an old thread but I found this page on a Google search and thought I could shed some light on the situation (carbon-neutral, energy-efficient light, since I live in Cali).

The major reason why California uses less energy per person than any other state is not climate (although that certainly helps on the coast where most of us live) And it is certainly not due to living a less extravagant lifestyle than in other states.

The reason is efficiency. It probably comes as a surprise since the rest of our state government is completely dysfunctional, but the California Public Utilities Commission does an amazing job and is a model for the rest of the country in terms of encouraging energy efficiency. And not just through public relations campaigns either, although we do have those and they are effective, but through regulation of the utility companies and most importantly, decoupling of power company profits from energy consumption.

In most states, the power utilities make money solely through selling power. The more power you use, the more money they make. So where is the incentive for power companies to encourage efficiency? Where is the incentive to invest capital in programs or technologies that will reduce electricity consumption? They're just going to make less money.

In California since 1982, and a few other states now, the state sets an efficiency goal for the utilities. When the companies meet that goal, they are allowed to charge a little bit more per kilowatt-hour. But this is more than offset by the amount of money saved by ratepayers who are using less energy. This is an exaggeration, but say PG&E meets its goal of being 20% more efficient this year. Next year, they might be allowed to charge 10% more per kwh, but since you are using 20% less power, you actually save money. And on top of saving you money, they are actually making a return on the investment they made to be more efficient because they are wasting less energy themselves, and charging more for the power they sell you. AND, since the state is not just handing the utilities money for improvements, but allowing them to charge more and finance the improvements themselves, it comes at a low cost to the state as well.

Basically, in other states, if you use less power, the power companies make less money. In California, if you use less power, the power companies still make money. I don't know if they make *more* money, but they still make a profit which can be returned into future investments.

California also has a lot of other regulations, including very stringent building codes for energy efficiency and other regulations that ensure we need less energy, and getting more clean energy for what we do need. I know... active government regulation! Scary!! But it has definitely been enough to keep our per capita energy use stable for over 30 years now while the rest of the country has gone up 60%. You can't argue with results.
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Old 12-20-2008, 09:27 AM
 
3 posts, read 9,728 times
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I also want to add that if the rest of the country adopted California's energy standards, we could reduce our national energy consumption by over 40% without inventing a single new piece of technology. We wouldn't have to build a new power plant for a generation.
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Old 12-20-2008, 11:14 AM
 
Location: CA
2,464 posts, read 6,448,316 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 18Montclair View Post
Very Impressive for the biggest state to be the most energy efficient! Go Cali!

U.S. Per Capita Electricity Use By State In 2005 (broken link)
That's because energy is freakin' expensive here. A friend of mine has a 5,000 sq ft monster house in Texas whose electricity bill is the same as mine. She's an energy hog who scoffs at the "green" lifestyle and cranks the A/C to 68 in the summer. If I used energy the way she did I'd have an $800-$1,000 electric bill (and my house is half her size). I make a strong effort to reduce my electrical use because my bills would give a heart attack if I didn't. Just sayin'...
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Old 12-20-2008, 12:15 PM
 
11,715 posts, read 40,309,597 times
Reputation: 7585
Quote:
Originally Posted by mommabear2 View Post
That's because energy is freakin' expensive here. A friend of mine has a 5,000 sq ft monster house in Texas whose electricity bill is the same as mine. She's an energy hog who scoffs at the "green" lifestyle and cranks the A/C to 68 in the summer. If I used energy the way she did I'd have an $800-$1,000 electric bill (and my house is half her size). I make a strong effort to reduce my electrical use because my bills would give a heart attack if I didn't. Just sayin'...
No kidding. My most recent electric bill for a 2 bedroom apartment with an electric water heater was $90. That's ridiculous for two people in a small space who don't even run that many appliances. The big killer in California is that the rates are progressive so the more you use, the higher the unit cost. Other places like Denver have flat rates so I'm effectively paying 2-3x as much per unit of electricity as they are.
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Old 12-20-2008, 01:43 PM
 
1,687 posts, read 6,048,666 times
Reputation: 830
Quote:
Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia View Post
The big killer in California is that the rates are progressive so the more you use, the higher the unit cost. Other places like Denver have flat rates so I'm effectively paying 2-3x as much per unit of electricity as they are.
I think its just like gas prices going up, you don't waste it when you pay more for it.

The rest of the country needs to rethink how they pay for electricity. If it wasn't cheap to waste, they would cut back.

My wife still remembers her father running around turning off lights in their house 40 years ago, and him saying to the family "Do you work for PG&E?".
Quote:
Originally Posted by AA702 View Post
I think it does depend on where you live and what type of house you have (if its newer or older)
Very True.

We lived in smaller older place then built a new home 6 years ago. Went from 1000 sq ft to 2000 sq ft, both in the Fresno area.

Our usage stayed the same, even though the sq footage doubled. Nothing else changed, we still set the thermostat at the same levels.

Builders around Fresno are adding features to new homes to reduce usage.

One builder is now doing 2 X 6 exterior walls instead of 2 X 4. More insulation is being added in the space. Cuts down on exterior noise too.
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Old 12-20-2008, 03:12 PM
 
Location: CA
2,464 posts, read 6,448,316 times
Reputation: 2641
Quote:
Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia View Post
No kidding. My most recent electric bill for a 2 bedroom apartment with an electric water heater was $90. That's ridiculous for two people in a small space who don't even run that many appliances. The big killer in California is that the rates are progressive so the more you use, the higher the unit cost. Other places like Denver have flat rates so I'm effectively paying 2-3x as much per unit of electricity as they are.
Yeah, I'm in tier 3 w/ the electric co. I keep my house at 68-70 in the winter and 80-81 in the summer and I've never been able to get to a lower tier. Ever. I don't use the dryer or the dishwasher (wash by hand with cold water) and I do everything possible to keep the energy use down and it's STILL in tier 3 (4 being the highest). I'm still hovering around $200 a month. I would literally have to shut the power to my house off after the first two weeks to get it to tier 2. The electric company makes it impossible to get lower rates. But I'm still trying... It blows me away how expensive energy is while in other parts of the country it's "cheap."
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